Greatship Global orders Self Elevating Drilling Rig

Singapore based Greatship Global Energy Services a subsidiary of Greatship India Ltd is in an expansion mode

Greatship Global Energy Services Pte. Ltd. (GGES), a Singapore incorporated subsidiary of Greatship (India) Limited (GIL), which is a subsidiary of The Great Eastern Shipping Company Limited, has placed an order for construction of One (1) Mobile Offshore Self Elevating Drilling Rig - Letourneau Super 116 (E) with Lamprell Energy Ltd. The Rig is due for delivery in Q3 FY13 (Q4 calendar 2012).

The Rig is an Independent Leg Cantilever type Jack up rig with 15000 PSI pressure rating, designed to operate in water depths of up to 350 feet and will have a rated drilling capacity of 30,000 feet. The Rig is a state of the art cyber rig, built with the latest technology, equipments and systems.

This is the third jack up rig which will be owned by GGES after entering into a Memorandum of Agreement for the purchase of 350 feet jack up drilling rig “Greatdrill Chetna” last month which is currently in chartered on bareboat basis by GGES.

The flagship company, G E Shipping is India's largest private sector shipping service provider enjoying a formidable presence in the international maritime industry. The company has two main businesses: shipping and offshore. The shipping business is involved in transportation of crude oil, petroleum products, gas and dry bulk commodities. The offshore business services the oil companies in carrying out offshore exploration and production activities, through its wholly owned subsidiary Greatship (India) Limited.

The shipping business operates under two main businesses: dry bulk carriers and tankers. A sizeable part of the tankers enjoy approvals from oil giants like SHELL, BP, EXXONMOBIL, CHEVRONTEXACO, TOTALFINAELF and BHP. G. E. Shipping’s profits dropped steeply last year to $ 84 million from $ 295 million which the company netted in the previous fiscal.

G. E. Shipping has a fleet strength of 32 vessels and eight are on order five of which are dry bulk and three tankers. Two of the dry bulk ships are expected by March end this year and the remaining three will join the fleet by end of fiscal FY13. The company expects to take delivery of two tankers on order by this year and one next year.

On the other hand GIL and its subsidiaries currently own and/or operate four PSVs, seven AHTSVs, three MPSSVs, two ROVSVs and two jack up rigs. With this order, GIL and its subsidiaries have an order book of eight vessels - two MSVs in India, four ROVSVs in Sri Lanka, two 150 TBP AHTSVs in Singapore and one 350 feet jack up rig in Dubai. The company spokesperson however refused to divulge the investment involved nor speak about the value of the ships or the rigs as it was against the company’s policy.

GIL offers drilling and offshore logistics services, as well as vessels in order to meet the needs of offshore construction companies to support offshore construction, maintenance, modifications, and sub-sea operations. The average age of their vessels is approximately 3 years. All the vessels are dynamically positioned with redundancy, capable of carrying multiple products (including liquid mud, dry-bulk, etc.), and capable of carrying out multiple operations.